Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salad Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the eggs for three minutes.
In a bowl, mix the boiled eggs with mustard, pepper, salt, drawn butter or salad oil, vinegar, and catsup until well combined.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Boiled eggs add body and a creamy, thickened texture to the dressing.
- Drawn butter or salad oil
- Adds fat, giving the dressing richness and a smooth, emulsified body.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavour.
- Prepared mustard
- Adds sharpness and helps bind the oil and vinegar into a smoother emulsion.
The step that matters
Combining the mixture until well combined. Oil and vinegar separate easily, so the mixture must be blended thoroughly to form a stable, smooth emulsion rather than an oily dressing that splits.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, butter, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Cucumberfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, butter, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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